• Urban design boosts ‘passive cooling,’ responds to climate change

    Civano, a new urbanist town in Tucson, Arizona, provides a useful model for how three-dimensional design cuts energy and water use—and also adapts to and mitigates climate change.
    The shade provided by buildings and trees in walkable neighborhoods could be a key to making urban places more adaptive and resilient to a warming planet, according to a study of Civano, an early new urbanist town in Tucson, Arizona. Green design characteristics of Civano—especially its white roofs...Read more

  • Eight ways for ‘receiver cities’ to prepare

    Great Lakes communities are prominent examples of what new urbanists often refer to as “receiver cities, towns, and villages.” They can prepare for migration by promoting growth that improves the quality of life of existing inhabitants.
    As the world’s climate changes, experts are looking around for places that are likely to receive in-migration of population. A growing number are pointing to the Great Lakes region, from Upstate New York to Minnesota, and its historic cities and towns. From a climate migration perspective, the...Read more

  • How the ‘Heart of Town’ saved a town’s future

    Compact development, which contributes to carbon reduction, is also useful for climate adaptation and the building of defensible places.
    It’s been 10 years this month since a new urban charrette was held in Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, a town of 2,000 people that had a very uncertain future. The low-density town is in a part of the state that is washing away into the Gulf of Mexico. Other towns in Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, most...Read more

  • Climate adaptation, mitigation, and urban design

    Analyzing how community design can impact various phases of climate change response, both local and global.
    Urban planning and design are among the most effective tools in dealing with climate change, because they address both mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation is global in scale—it involves the reduction of carbon emissions that are linked to rising global temperatures. Communities can lower...Read more